New Delhi: India is set to get an AI-powered orbital data centre satellite, with space-tech firm Pixxel partnering with AI startup Sarvam to develop the country’s first such system, it was announced on Monday. 

After the partnership, Pixxel will design, build, launch and operate the Pathfinder satellite, while Sarvam will provide the artificial intelligence backbone, enabling both training and inference directly in orbit through full-stack language models running onboard, the company said.

The Pathfinder, a 200-kg class satellite expected to reach orbit as early as the fourth quarter of 2026, underscores the companies’ push to rapidly advance space-based computing capabilities.

Unlike conventional satellite systems that rely on low-power processors, the Pathfinder will host datacenter-grade GPUs similar to those used in terrestrial AI infrastructure, allowing high-performance computing directly in space.

The satellite will also carry Pixxel's flagship hyperspectral imaging camera, making it among the first in the world capable of capturing high-resolution hyperspectral data and analysing it in orbit using advanced AI models.

This would eliminate the need to transmit large volumes of raw data back to Earth, enabling real-time insights, faster decision-making, and applications across environmental monitoring, resource management and infrastructure tracking.

Pixxel CEO Awais Ahmed said orbital data centres represent a new frontier as ground-based infrastructure faces constraints related to energy, land and scalability. He added that space-based computing, powered by solar energy and located closer to data sources, can overcome many of these limitations.

Sarvam CEO Pratyush Kumar said the partnership extends the company’s sovereign AI platform beyond terrestrial systems into space, enabling India-built AI models to operate independently of foreign cloud infrastructure. He emphasised that building indigenous intelligence systems in orbit is key to technological sovereignty.

The mission will also test real-time AI inference, power management, thermal performance and data workflows in the harsh space environment, laying the foundation for future orbital data centre systems.

The satellite will be developed at Pixxel’s upcoming Gigapixxel facility, which is designed to scale production to up to 100 satellites.

(IANS)